tenant of part of the old house, and had only just been evicted in
preparation for the return of the owner of the property with his foreign
wife. If Thyrza were too much scolded she would take her ways home, and,
as her parents spoilt her, she would not be coerced into returning. And
how another "day-girl" was to be found in that remote place, where,
beyond the farm, a small house belonging to the agent, and a couple of
cottages, the nearest house to the Tower was at least three miles away,
Mrs. Dixon did not know.

"My word! what a night!" said Thyrza with another laugh a little stifled
by the sweets she had just transferred from her pocket to her mouth.
"They'll be drowned oot afore they get here."

As she spoke, a wild gust flung itself over the house, as though trying
its strength against the doors and windows, and the rain swished against
the panes.

"Are t' fires upstairs burnin' reet?" asked Mrs. Dixon severely. She had
already told Thyrza half a dozen times that day that such a greed for
sweet things as she displayed would ruin her digestion and her teeth; and
it ruffled a dictatorial temper to be taken no more notice of than if she
were a duck quacking in the farmyard.

"Aye, they're burnin'," said Thyrza, with a shrug. Then she looked round
her with a toss of her decidedly graceful head. "But it's a creepy old
place howivver. I'd not live here if I was paid. What does Muster Melrose
want wi' coomin' here? He's got lots o' money, Mr. Tyson says. He'll
nivver stay. What was the use o' turnin' father out, an' makkin' a lot o'
trouble?"